Fran Carpino – Growing Up in Orillia

What is your favourite memory of growing up in Orillia?

I enjoy a memory of neighbourhood within the area we grew up on West Street and Elgin. There were lots of families – Italian, some Indigenous families, lots of families. What I remember is that there was lots of play and outdoor activities.

When you were growing up, Orillia would have been very British in character. Did you ever encounter any anti-Italian sentiment because of the Second World War?

I don’t recall exactly as far as some of that particular sentiment, but certainly there would have been some racist comments and remarks. I remember once a person asked if I wasn’t a little bit English, but I said that I was through and through Italian, but I do think that when you meet someone on a person by person basis there is greater understanding and acceptance. I think there were references to the Immigrants, but I don’t recall and I would have been very young and my parents don’t recall that.